The total area of agricultural land used for organic production in the European Union is increasing, new figures show today (Thursday, June 22).
According to Eurostat, the area used for organic agricultural production increased from 14.7 million hectares in 2020 to 15.9 million hectares in 2021 – the equivalent of 9.9% of the total farming land available.
Its latest report published today also shows that an increasing number of bovines, sheep and goats are reared using organic methods.
Out of the EU’s herd of 75.7 million bovine animals in 2021, an estimated 5 million bovines were reared in this manner.
The report highlights that Greece had the highest share of organic dairy cows (23%), followed by Austria (22%) and Sweden (19%) in 2021.
In general, according to Eurostat, in the nine years to 2021 the area used for organic farming increased in almost all EU countries.
It also highlights that there has been a “fast and sharp expansion” in the total land area farmed in this way in the EU and that between 2012 and 2021 there was an increase of 6.5 million hectares.
In 2021, France topped the organic polls with 2.8 million hectares of land area used for agricultural production. It was followed by Spain with 2.6 million hectares, Italy with 2.2 million hectares and Germany with 1.6 million hectares.
According to Eurostat these four countries accounted for nearly three fifths of the EU’s total organic area in 2021.
However, the latest report also underlines that while many countries like Poland, Croatia, France, Hungary and Romania rapidly boosted the area under organic production in the nine years to 2021, other countries did not experience as rapid an expansion.
In contrast, Eurostat highlighted that there were six countries in the EU where the share of organic farming was still below 5% in 2021.
One of these was Ireland, which the European Commission has pointed out had “only about 2% of agricultural land devoted to organic farming” in 2021 – “the third-lowest share in the EU”.
The latest Eurostat report shows that in 2012 Ireland had 52,793 under this type of production, but by 2021 this had grown to 86,868ha.
It also highlights that countries like Bulgaria, which had 1.7% of land under organic agricultural production and Malta, which had just 0.6% in 2021, have a much lower share of this type of production compared to Ireland.
Organic crops
There are three main types of organic agricultural land use in the EU:
- Arable land crops – mainly cereals, root crops, fresh vegetables, green fodder and industrial crops;
- Permanent grassland – pastures and meadows;
- Permanent crops – fruit trees and berries, olive groves and vineyards.
The area of arable land crops accounted for more than one half of total organic agricultural area in 14 EU countries in 2021.
But pastures and meadows accounted for more than one half of the total area in 10 EU countries.
In all EU countries, permanent crops accounted for the lowest share of the three main types of organic land use.